JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge has ruled that the mayor of Mississippi's capital city did not have the power veto a contract that the city council had not approved.
Judge Larry Roberts issued his ruling Friday in a dispute among Jackson officials over who will be paid to collect garbage, news outlets reported.
The Jackson City Council sued after Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba issued an emergency order to award a garbage collection contract to a Richard’s Disposal.
The council had voted multiple times against giving the contract to the the New Orleans-based company.
“There’s nothing there to veto. The council didn’t pass affirmatively the matter. It rejected it,” said Roberts, a retired Mississippi Court of Appeals judge who was appointed to hear the case in Hinds County Chancery Court.
Jessica Ayers, an attorney for the mayor, argued that he has the power to veto the negative vote.
“You can expect the possibility of us appealing this matter,” Lumumba said.
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